Pens4Life87 wrote:I'm hoping with the new CBA they institute a high bump in the salary cap floor, and fingers crossed some team wants to make a deal for Martin or Michalek hoping that last year was a blip on those players career radar and fills the need of a high priced asset to meet the demands of the CBA.

We could easily get Martin off the books if we are allowed the one time buy out. Granted he becomes a UFA and can bolt town, Michaek i think he is good and worth the 4 million. If you bring up Despres and sign a defensive defenceman in his place your cap number would still be good.

Actually i thnk the Bylsma system sucks, his puck mover and defensive guy pairing is great for the regular season but stinks for the playoffs. The Scuds and Gill pairing was great in the playoffs when they were here. Letang in the cup year played more defensive, so the stretch pass didn't expose us. Now one D man is following the play up the ice and the other team turns the puck around getting a 2 on 1. Our guys need to lean 5 on 5 stay back.

We could very well get our wish. There is talk of an "amnesty clause" in the new CBA. This would allow each time to dump one bad contract.

One other good thing to come out of a renegotiated CBA is the ability to keep this team in tact. If the CBA is re-negotiated to lower the cap once again, that makes the issue of re-signing Sid and Staal easier. With a lower cap comes a lower league max and lower contracts. As of now, it is thought that Staal could command $7M on the open market. If the cap goes back down to the $30s, that $7M quickly drops two to three million. On one hand, it's all relative, a $4M or $5M in that cap range is equal to the Pens spending $6 or $7M on Staal with this cap, his value will not be as relative. He would still be highly sought after, but too many teams with money invested will not look to spend that kind of money on a guy like Staal which leaves the Pens in a much better bargaining position.

One other thing to point out, which is likely more important, is the season after the CBA would take effect, 2014/2015 season. Gino, Orpik and Letang would all be free agents. Combining that with letting Martin walk, the Pens are in a good position to be able to keep Orpik and Letang while being able to restructure their defense and have room for Despres and Morrow to make the jump with rookie contracts and still bring in other D.

Pens4Life87 wrote:I'm hoping with the new CBA they institute a high bump in the salary cap floor, and fingers crossed some team wants to make a deal for Martin or Michalek hoping that last year was a blip on those players career radar and fills the need of a high priced asset to meet the demands of the CBA.

We could easily get Martin off the books if we are allowed the one time buy out. Granted he becomes a UFA and can bolt town, Michaek i think he is good and worth the 4 million. If you bring up Despres and sign a defensive defenceman in his place your cap number would still be good.

Actually i thnk the Bylsma system sucks, his puck mover and defensive guy pairing is great for the regular season but stinks for the playoffs. The Scuds and Gill pairing was great in the playoffs when they were here. Letang in the cup year played more defensive, so the stretch pass didn't expose us. Now one D man is following the play up the ice and the other team turns the puck around getting a 2 on 1. Our guys need to lean 5 on 5 stay back.

Would the one time buyout ever be beneficial. Replacing Martin with Despres would be an immediate and noticable improvement (based on the PM we saw this year, no the guy who showed he had something last year).

Pens4Life87 wrote:I'm hoping with the new CBA they institute a high bump in the salary cap floor, and fingers crossed some team wants to make a deal for Martin or Michalek hoping that last year was a blip on those players career radar and fills the need of a high priced asset to meet the demands of the CBA.

We could easily get Martin off the books if we are allowed the one time buy out. Granted he becomes a UFA and can bolt town, Michaek i think he is good and worth the 4 million. If you bring up Despres and sign a defensive defenceman in his place your cap number would still be good.

Actually i thnk the Bylsma system sucks, his puck mover and defensive guy pairing is great for the regular season but stinks for the playoffs. The Scuds and Gill pairing was great in the playoffs when they were here. Letang in the cup year played more defensive, so the stretch pass didn't expose us. Now one D man is following the play up the ice and the other team turns the puck around getting a 2 on 1. Our guys need to lean 5 on 5 stay back.

Would the one time buyout ever be beneficial. Replacing Martin with Despres would be an immediate and noticable improvement (based on the PM we saw this year, no the guy who showed he had something last year).

If our all-world players (Crosby and Malkin) would play defensively responsible hockey (which would in-turn lead the rest of the team to do the same), and suddenly we had a team that backchecked and played all 200-ft as opposed to the run 'n gun we saw after Sid came back from injury...than I'd have no problem keeping Martin around...or Michalek...or Orpik. Much like the Rangers have played all year (led by Callahan and Richards), the pens are capable of playing hardworking defensive hockey like they did the end of last season when Malkin and Crosby were injured...no set of defenders can thrive when the top-forwards refuse to work hard in the defensive zone. Part of that is coaching, and part of it is the maturity of the player.

Qbert wrote:Is it sad that I'm kind of hoping for next season to be disrupted a little by a work stoppage of some sort? 82 games is way too long. I'd like a nice 50 game season. Something around there would be fine by me.

Yea, I would like 60-65 in my opinion. Players get too tired with 82 games, and the product suffers...hockey should start in Sept and end In April I say.

Qbert wrote:Is it sad that I'm kind of hoping for next season to be disrupted a little by a work stoppage of some sort? 82 games is way too long. I'd like a nice 50 game season. Something around there would be fine by me.

Yea, I would like 60-65 in my opinion. Players get too tired with 82 games, and the product suffers...hockey should start in Sept and end In April I say.

Moving the start of the season up earlier means the NHL is competing with football for viewership/exposure for a larger chunk of the season...I don't know if this is a sound business strategy for continuing to expand viewership/exposure of the NHL. Football runs from early September through early February. The lower the % of the NHL schedule overlapping football season, the better...

“We’re looking at hopefully getting extensions with (Crosby and Staal),” Shero said. Negotiations are allowed to begin July 1, at which point the Penguins should get a better feel for what kind of deals those two are seeking.

While the Penguins ultimately might be forced to trade one of those centers, NHL teams have been told to proceed as if the salary-cap ceiling for next season will be around $69 million. It was $64.3 million in 2011-12.

Qbert wrote:Is it sad that I'm kind of hoping for next season to be disrupted a little by a work stoppage of some sort? 82 games is way too long. I'd like a nice 50 game season. Something around there would be fine by me.

Yea, I would like 60-65 in my opinion. Players get too tired with 82 games, and the product suffers...hockey should start in Sept and end In April I say.

Well that article does give a glimmer of hope but still signing Staal either way, keeping him or trading him is a smart move. I believe Staal will accept less to stay but i am sure he will get a limited trade clause. He will take us to the bank if Shero ask for a open contract (trade anywhere).

mikey287 wrote:Work stoppage is possible. Some minor meetings have taken place, just prelim stuff. Fehr is very anti-salary cap. Bettman > Selig and won't get pushed around like when Fehr ran the MLBPA. Also, the owners are big believers in Bettman and the fine job he's done.

Baseball's issues aren't the owners versus the player's association. It is owner's versus owner's versus player's. Look how many work stoppages has happened in baseball without a cap. The Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, Dodgers, etc....could care less about small market teams. What makes the NHL so successful, is some of its smaller market teams (like the Pens) are its more successful and popular franchises.

We could have an LA vs NY Cup Final. That should be huge for the league. But I am gathering the ratings won't be as good as they would for say a Pens/Hawks final because hockey is an afterthought in LA, and a small percentage in NY.

mikey287 wrote:Work stoppage is possible. Some minor meetings have taken place, just prelim stuff. Fehr is very anti-salary cap. Bettman > Selig and won't get pushed around like when Fehr ran the MLBPA. Also, the owners are big believers in Bettman and the fine job he's done.

Baseball's issues aren't the owners versus the player's association. It is owner's versus owner's versus player's. Look how many work stoppages has happened in baseball without a cap. The Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, Dodgers, etc....could care less about small market teams. What makes the NHL so successful, is some of its smaller market teams (like the Pens) are its more successful and popular franchises.

We could have an LA vs NY Cup Final. That should be huge for the league. But I am gathering the ratings won't be as good as they would for say a Pens/Hawks final because hockey is an afterthought in LA, and a small percentage in NY.

I won't comment on the last paragraph as I don't know it's context. Though I live in the New York market. But yes, you are dead-on and that's what I alluded to with my last sentence. The owners are all united with Bettman basically, in baseball, there was no unity and Selig got beat down. Bettman's strong and probably peaking right about now.

Bioshock wrote:Pens will have 9.4 million in cap space with 18 players signed for next season if the Cap prediction of 69 million holds true.

Any new deal for either Sid or Staal would still involve them playing out next season on their present cap hit, meaning you could grab a couple of guys on one year deals to load up for a run before the new contracts kick in. You could go get a veteran near the end looking for a last run at the cup to bolster the roster. You just have to be sure the money can come off when the new deals kick in and you get ready to sign Malkin/Letang.

Bioshock wrote:Pens will have 9.4 million in cap space with 18 players signed for next season if the Cap prediction of 69 million holds true.

I just wouldn't get my hopes up for a 9.4M increase...maybe I'm being too pecimistic, but that thing could drop like a brick after the new CBA is announced.

Bettman would be crazy to announce that the cap will be x then after the negotiations, oops sorry guys cap is going to be lees than that. Unless this is a curve he is sending to the union to see what they will do.

Bioshock wrote:Pens will have 9.4 million in cap space with 18 players signed for next season if the Cap prediction of 69 million holds true.

I just wouldn't get my hopes up for a 9.4M increase...maybe I'm being too pecimistic, but that thing could drop like a brick after the new CBA is announced.

Bettman would be crazy to announce that the cap will be x then after the negotiations, oops sorry guys cap is going to be lees than that. Unless this is a curve he is sending to the union to see what they will do.

Uhh... what? I never said the cap was going up by 9.4 million. I said they would have that cap room if it went to 69 million. The cap is currently 64.3 million and the Pens have 59.6 million wrapped up in 18 players next season as of this moment.

Last edited by Bioshock on Thu May 17, 2012 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Qbert wrote:Is it sad that I'm kind of hoping for next season to be disrupted a little by a work stoppage of some sort? 82 games is way too long. I'd like a nice 50 game season. Something around there would be fine by me.

Yea, I would like 60-65 in my opinion. Players get too tired with 82 games, and the product suffers...hockey should start in Sept and end In April I say.

Is that enough games for teams to make money? Seems to me ticket prices would have to go way up if only 60 games were played.

Bioshock wrote:Pens will have 9.4 million in cap space with 18 players signed for next season if the Cap prediction of 69 million holds true.

I just wouldn't get my hopes up for a 9.4M increase...maybe I'm being too pecimistic, but that thing could drop like a brick after the new CBA is announced.

Bettman would be crazy to announce that the cap will be x then after the negotiations, oops sorry guys cap is going to be lees than that. Unless this is a curve he is sending to the union to see what they will do.

Uhh... what? I never said the cap was going up by 9.4 million. I said they would have that cap room if it went to 69 million. The cap is currently 64.3 million and the Pens have 59.6 million wrapped up in 18 players next season as of this moment.

No you didn't...I mixed up the numbers in my post...sorry. 69M total...not a 9M increase. I certainly wasn't trying to say you said that, and frankly anyone can see my mistake above clear as day.

I still have doubts it stays up at 69M...but hey...here's hoping it does!!!